Comment

Comment by Zac Kind on April 23, 2013 at 6:58pm

Hello all, im new to this forum, but have a small 10 gallon system running.  I have 23 goldfish swimming around and trying to grow lettuce and basil.  My ph is 6.2 my Ammonia is 1.0 and my Nitrate is 40ppm. Any thoughts on what I should do next to help my system out? 

I love reading all of your comments its great to know there is a supportive community out there.  While  I have this small system Im also building a 100 gallon design in the up coming weeks.  Trying to fix the problems on the smaller scale first.  

Comment by Doug Franklin on April 23, 2013 at 1:18pm

I guess I was just thinking the water the fish were living in would benefit from the water cycling more frequently. I've been noticing some people with fish losses and thought frequent cycling of the water might clear something like that up.........

Doug

Comment by TCLynx on April 23, 2013 at 6:05am

Doug, it doesn't matter how long your siphon takes to drain the bed as long as the bed does flood and drain (the siphon starts and stops properly) then all is well.  Again, the plants don't really care that much how long it takes to flood and drain the beds as long as there is some flood and drain action going on.  I have a couple beds that I think the entire fill and drain cycle takes an hour, I've never had the patience to hang around long enough to time the complete cycle though.  As long as sometimes when I wander past the water is not draining out and other times when I wander past the siphon is working, I figure it is stopping and starting and not caught in some siphon always on either totally flooded or totally drained, I'm happy.  Plants seem quite happy too.

(There is no magic perfect amount of time for a siphon and the only reason people have it in their heads that you should flood a bed for 15 minutes is because that is the most common increment for those mechanical timers for people who do timed flood and drain.)

Comment by Leo White Bear on April 22, 2013 at 1:29pm

Doug-

  I also am of the idea of Robert, I use all 1" for my fill and drain bell siphon.  My beds all take 14 - 15 minutes give or take to fill, and drain in less than 5 minutes.  Ifyou are having an absolut problem with what speed of drain you may desire, change your 3/4" stand pipe to 1".  I believe you will like the speed that the GB drains at.

Comment by Jim Fisk on April 22, 2013 at 11:13am

Doug, I have all the info on siphons at our IBC group as well as my home page. I do sell them on Ebay in 1" for the IBCs and 3/4" for the Barrelponics if you prefer. But if you have the tools they are simple enough to make. I have sold over 50 now without a single complaint and I freely share all the dimensions on our forum here for those like me who prefer to make their own.

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on April 22, 2013 at 10:13am

I'm with Robert on this one, sounds like you need slow down your grow bed fill.  I had the same issue where my drain would never cut off because the flow was matching the draining.   I have a 3/4 bell siphon in my first grow  bed and it takes about 15 minutes to fill (so it gets filled 4 times an hour) and that then drains to my second  grow bed which has a 1" bell siphon.  My one inch siphon is a rocket and finishes draining before my first grow bed is done.  It takes a little bit of practice to figure out the amount of water to pour into the grow bed, but now I can "eye ball" it, and will know if it is going to fast or slow. 

Moderator Comment by Bob Terrell on April 22, 2013 at 8:52am

Doug, this a problem why?

Comment by Robert Rowe on April 22, 2013 at 8:33am

@Doug Frankiln

I use 1" pipe for my siphons, and my beds are 4' X 4' X 15". My fill cycle is 15 minutes which is more than enough time to fill, so it keeps filling while its siphoning, so I would think you are right on for 3/4" siphon pipes.

Comment by Doug Franklin on April 22, 2013 at 8:12am

I need to ask for a bit of assistance with my project. I'm using a 275 gal. IBC fish tank, and I'm using another IBC tank I cut in 2 for my grow beds.  My pump takes about 9 minutes to fill both tanks. Here's where the problem starts. I used a 3/4" bell siphon for both tanks to drain, and it's taking too long for it to drain. I suppose I can make 2 more of these using 1 1/2", but is there anyone that make these, or is there something better than a bell siphon to drain my tanks. Right now, it takes over 20 minutes for it to stop draining and I guess I was thinking the whole cycle should only take about 20 minutes max. If anyone has any ideas, I'd sure like to hear them.

Thanks,

Doug

Comment by Leo White Bear on April 21, 2013 at 7:28pm

I personally wouldn't intermix these two species because, trout originate from cold fast current mountain streams with very high oxygen content while catfish originated from warmer slow current lakes and tributaries, more suited to lower oxygen ppm.  IMHO, to mix different species of this type would be asking a lot and compromise of optimum growth potential and disease possibilities. 

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